Too See Almost 500 Runs Scored In 50 overs In England Is Scaring Me, Says Sourav Ganguly

While England’s explosive batting in the third One-Day International against Australia has left the world gasping for breath, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has raised a concern that all the traditionalists of the game would agree to.  Unlike many who enjoyed the carnage in Nottingham, Ganguly expressed his concerns over the ‘health of the game’ after England posted a mammoth 481 for 6 in just 50 overs.

Riding on Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow’s whirlwind fifties, England blew away Australia. They surpassed their own record of 444/3 (against Pakistan) to notch the highest-ever ODI.  They reached the milestone in just 45.3 overs and missed the 500-run mark by just 19 runs.

Bairstow smashed 139 – his fourth ODI century in six games – while Hales hit 147. Bairstow’s knock came off just 92 balls and contained 15 fours and 5 sixes. On the other hand, Hales hit 16 fours and 5 sixes during his 147-run knock.

There were half-centuries for Jason Roy (82) and Eoin Morgan, who hit a 21-ball fifty. In the process, Morgan also became England’s all-time leading run-scorer in ODIs, going above Ian Bell who had 5,416 career runs.

But while the fans loved the explosive display, Ganguly was not convinced by it. The batting legend took to Twitter to express his feelings through a series of tweets.

In first, he wrote:

“Too see almost 500 runs scored in 50 overs in england is scaring me ..about the health of the game and where it’s going..Australian bowling getting treated this way whatever the conditions may be is not acceptable..A country of lillee,thompson,benaud.

https://twitter.com/SGanguly99/status/1009117432361910273

In another tweet, he sounded concerned over the quality of bowlers in Australia, writing:

“McGrath,Lee,Warne,McDermott,gillespie …produce such ordinary stuff is nerve wracking..good bowling is important for survival of the game ..is it dying?hope not..I am sure they are more skillfull and better bowlers in one of most powerful nations in cricket.”

https://twitter.com/SGanguly99/status/1009118065861251073

Ganguly was yet to come to terms to the scoreboard and compared the innings to that of playing book cricket, tweeting:

https://twitter.com/SGanguly99/status/1009118197486940160